


A Room Full of Memories

by 3tinkgemini



Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-17 23:05:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15472113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3tinkgemini/pseuds/3tinkgemini
Summary: Valerie, full of jealousy over Stefan and Caroline’s deep friendship, (and ONLY a friendship), casts a curse on Caroline that no one knows the origins of. Bonnie was unable to help her as much as she tried. But she was able to reach out in the witchy realm and find the location of a witch that could. Once the girls saw that the witch’s location was in NOLA, they knew that Klaus would be the one to go to. With time running out, will Klaus be able to stay calm, giving Freya the time she needs to save his beloved blonde vampire?





	A Room Full of Memories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Joey_Prue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joey_Prue/gifts).



> I’m taking total creative license with the happenings of Mystic Falls and New Orleans. Most things stay canon in Mystic Falls up to around The Travelers. All things Canon from TO besides what is listed.
> 
> No Hayley. No magical unicorn fetus. Cami is just some random bar tender who is not featured in this story because- seriously- that was just a sloppy story arch all together. The Mikaelson’s went to NOLA because of whispers of an uprising there. They found out Marcel was alive, went through all the drama from the show, now they rule NOLA together- shakily- but Klaus is taking a page out of Caroline’s Friendship 101 lecture and attempting to build bonds instead of forcing them
> 
> I tried to take all the things you asked for and make it into one story, it spiraled into this! I really hope you enjoy it. PS-Be ready, its super long!

The front door crashed open, Marcel calling out for help as he half-dragged the stumbling blonde vampire into Compound.

 

She had shown up only twenty minutes ago, snapping the necks of two of his best guys who had her cornered. Then, right in front of his eyes, her strength seemed to fail her. Her body crumpling to the ground as he flashed towards her, readying his hands to snap her neck and cart her off to The Garden to question her after she came to. Only when she had weakly lifted her head, her strangely familiar features gave him pause.

 

When she rasped the name of his sire, the familiarity of her face clicked. His mind flashing to the drawing he had caught Klaus working on after he had returned from Mystic Falls a few years ago before he snapped the book closed.

 

Marcel pulled her up closer to him as the mysterious vampire began to falter once again, slowly getting weaker by the second.

 

“Klaus!”

 

“Really Marcel, I taught you better than to burst into someone’s home shouting…” Klaus appeared at the second-floor balcony, his teasing grin falling from his face, “Caroline?”

 

At the sound of his voice Caroline used what little of her strength remained to push off Marcel, stumbling forward with his name whispering from her lips. Her legs quickly failed her, sending her crumbling to the floor. Marcel dashed towards her to save her from impact as Klaus flashed beside them.

 

Kneeling, Klaus took her gently from Marcel. His eyes filled with worry as he scanned her over, looking for what ailed her, hissing angrily to Marcel, “What did you do?” 

 

Marcel stood, his hands held up in front of him, “I didn’t do anything. I found her like this just outside of Rousseau’s. She took out two daywalkers and then crumpled to the ground. All she kept saying was your name, so I brought her here.”

 

Caroline weakly pulled on the front of Klaus’s shirt, gaining his attention, “What happened Sweetheart? What’s wrong with you?”

 

“Bonnie…Note.” She groaned in pain as she tried to move her arm to reach into her back pocket.

 

“Relax, I’ll get it.” Klaus carefully pulled the folded paper from her pocket. His eyes scanning it over quickly before shoving it into his own pocket. Gently he searched her neck for the chain he knew he’d find there, pulling it out of her shirt to look at the amulet the Bennett witch had said would be there. The crystal infused with his blood was a murky grey, with only a small corner still holding the red color.

 

Scooping her up into his arms as he stood, he carried her up the iron staircase, “Call Freya and tell her to get here _now._ ”

 

Flashing to his room, he gently placed Caroline to his bed with a weak playful grin, “This was not how I had envisioned finally getting you into me bed would come about.”

 

Caroline’s attempts at a scoff were little more than a ragged huff of air.

 

His eyes flicked to the amulet around her neck, the wheels of his mind turning. Bonnie had written that she had used the blood he had left Caroline in case of emergencies as a talisman, giving Caroline the strength she needed to make the journey here. The strength that was quickly fading from her.

 

Sitting to the bed, he bit into his wrist, ignoring her feeble protests as he carefully forced some of his blood into her mouth. For a single moment he felt hope rise within his chest as he watched the color return to her pale cheeks before dread speared him as she began to cough, the paleness returning with a vengeance.

 

Her dull eyes glanced up to him with pity, as if he was the one fighting to catch his breath and not her. As if she was attempting to offer him comfort.

 

“Tried that…doesn’t work.” She gasped haltingly, “Call Bonnie…she’ll explain…”

 

The weakness of her voice bothered him more than it had when he had thought to let her die in the Gilbert living room. But now was not the time for that. He stuffed the thoughts of losing her down deep, instead attempting to offer her solace and hope, things he had very little experience of giving.

 

“Shh, save your strength Love. Bonnie’s note was very thorough with explaining what she has found as of now and Freya is on her way as we speak.” By her confused glance he smiled as he shifted closer to her, placing an arm across her stomach to lean in close while he smoothed the hair from her face, “We have much catching up to do Caroline. My long-lost sister Freya has returned to our mists and I am quite confident that she is the witch that your friend Bonnie believes can help you.”

 

Gulping down as she struggled and gasped for breath again. Watching what little remained of his blood begin to fade from the talisman, Klaus leaned in closer his eyes soft yet unyielding as he vowed, “You can stop fighting now Caroline. I swear to you, you will not be under this curse for very long. I _will_ find a way to break it.”

 

Caroline sank into the pillows, a soft smile gracing her lips as she weakly placed her hand over his that was cupping her cheek. Her lids slowly blinking shut, “I know.”

 

Klaus swallowed harshly at her small yet powerful words, marveling at the faith and trust she was handing him without a second thought.

 

Freya watched from the door as her brother leaned down, placing a kiss to the blonde vampire’s forehead, whispering, “I will not fail you Caroline. When you wake I will show you all the New Orleans has to offer.” He pulled back with a small grin, “Though I believe it will be my fair city that will be brought to its knees and left in awe of you.”

 

Freya was left breathless by the raw and pure emotions racing across her brother’s face. In her time spent with him and of all the times over the years that she was allowed glimpses into her family’s lives, she had never seen Klaus act this way with anyone before. No falsities, no games. Just very real and bright emotions for whoever this blonde vampire was.

 

Not wanting him to catch her as an interloper to this very private moment, she cleared her throat, “I talked to Marcel. You want to tell me what’s going on?”

 

His face transformed back into his full-on take no prisoners mode she was used to, “I need a protection spell placed around my room and I need you to read this.” He pulled the note from his pocket, thrusting it within her grasp, “And Freya? I expect results before the day is out.”

 

* * *

 

 A few hours later he listened to bits and pieces the frantic conversation between Freya and Bonnie as he wandered the halls.

 

_“I needed something strong to anchor the talisman with to give her enough time to reach New Orleans. We can’t find Valerie, so we have no idea what curse she put on Caroline, but I was able to reach out to my Grams on the Ancestral Plain and get a little help with which direction to start looking.”_

_“I’ve matched up some of the information you emailed me to possible curses and then cross-referenced them with ones typically performed with Travelers magic. I’ll send you what I have but I’m not sure what we will be able to find without having the witch that made the curse.”_

_“I got it.” Bonnie’s voice hummed through the speakerphone, “Did you notice how most of the Travelers curses have something to do with discovering or showing something? Maybe Care’s trapped in some sort of vision?”_

_Freya groaned in frustration, “This would be so much easier if we could somehow see inside her head. But I tried using magic to do that and all it did was short out the electric in the house and knock me flat on my ass.”_

Klaus stopped dead in his tracks, the wheels in his mind turning faster and faster as he tuned out the rest of their conversation and focused on what they had just said. Deciding it was worth a try, he flashed off to his room where Caroline laid.

 

He crawled into the bed, laying on his side beside her, curious if his plan would work. Placing his hand against the side of her head he closed his eyes and tried to connect with her mind.

 

The air left his lungs as his mind’s eye was transported into hers. It took a moment to mentally regained himself, finding that he now stood in the darkened backyard of Caroline’s home. The only lights came from inside the house, the yard itself surrounded by a strange dark foggy mist. He took a step towards the house to begin his search of her there when a small voice from above him gave him pause.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

Klaus looked up to find a wooden platform built within the tree, a young girl’s head peering over the edge with her blonde curls falling around her face as her curious blue eyes followed his every move.

 

“Do you know who I am?” He cautiously asked this adorable younger version of her.

 

Her tiny voice filled with confidence as she nodded, bringing a soft smile to his face. “You’re Klaus.”

 

“Could you perhaps come down here so that we might talk Caroline?”

 

She grinned before disappearing from his view, her footsteps scampering above him, leading him to the ladder where she began her descent. Once she was on the ground, Klaus knelt down in front of her, marveling at this rare life-like glimpse at Caroline as a child.

 

“Do you know what is happening Sweetheart?” She nodded her head, “Good. That’s good. Can you tell me?” She pressed her lips tightly, her eyes showing her sorrow as she grimly shook her head no, “That’s alright. I understand far too well the tricks of a witch’s curse. Perhaps we can discover a loophole together, hmm?”

 

Klaus took pride in the spark of excitement that lit her eyes, extinguishing all signs of her distress over not being able to tell him what he wished to know. “Perhaps you can tell me why you are outside and alone in the dark.”

 

As if he words propelled things into action, shouting voices could be heard coming from the house. The young Caroline seemed to snap into action, darting past him into the house as if he was never there. Curiously he followed her as she kicked off her shoes by the backdoor, riffling through her school bag with her tongue tucked between her lips, her eyes lighting up with joy as she found what she had been looking for.

 

He followed her deeper into the house as she barreled into the room where the heated voices of her parents were coming from. Their argument tapering to silent angry glares as Caroline jumped between them, waving her treasure between them.

 

“Look what I did at school today! Mrs. Jewitt said it was the best art project she had ever seen!”

 

Klaus watched with a heavy heart as the scene unfolded before him. Her Father patted her head, without so much as a glance at her drawing, placating her as he grabbed his keys, heading for the front door with her Mother fast on his heels.

 

“Where are you going Bill? We’re not finished yet.”

 

The slam of the front door was the only answer. Liz huffed as she roughly pulled her jacket on over her police uniform as young Caroline, never one to give up, bounced to her Mother proudly holding up her drawing.

 

“Look Mommy!”

 

“Caroline, I don’t have time for this. Just put it on the counter and I’ll look at it when I get home.”

 

“You always say that.” Caroline’s lips jutted out with the force of her pout.

 

Groaning as if put out, Liz snatched the paper from her daughter, hardly giving it a sideways glance as she muttered, “Looks nice.” Before handing it back, “Lock the door behind me, dinner is in the fridge and make sure to get to bed at a decent hour.”

 

The door closed behind her as she left her daughter, of no more than seven, alone in their home in the dark of night. He watched the heartbreaking scene play out, Caroline’s tiny fists crumpled the drawing in her hand, tossing it to the floor as she ran to the door and locked it tight. Her tiny arms laced around her, rubbing frantically as her lip trembled and her eyes darted around the room with fear. As if the hounds of hell were snapping at her heels, she darted off to her bedroom, where she curled up in the center of her bed armed with a flashlight and her teddy bear clutched close to her chest. Her voice trembled as she tried to sound brave, “It’s okay Mr. Bear, I…I will protect you.” She flashed her light in all the corners of the room, “Only six hours until Mommy comes back home. Daddy might be home sooner and then everything will be okay.” She turned her teddy bear to face her, “We can be brave till then, right?”

 

Though he hated to leave her, Klaus knew that there was nothing he could do for her while trapped inside her memories. Regretfully he pulled his hand from her head, severing the link to her mind and set off to tell Freya of what he had discovered hoping that this information would be what she would need.

 

* * *

 

Freya’s excitement over all that he had told her was brought down by Bonnie’s nagging worry over him seeing into Caroline’s mind and her fears for what her friend was having to relive.

 

As much as he wanted to give Caroline her privacy, he was like a moth drawn to a flame. Using the excuse that he wanted to try to inform her only of their progress, however lame it sounded, as he once again laid beside her and placed his hand to her temple.

 

This time he was met with her younger self while she paced nervously in the hallway of her home.

 

“You came back.” Her eyes rounded with shock.

 

“Of course, I did Sweetheart. I didn’t wish to leave you alone and trapped her for long.” He smiled charmingly before pulling back in shock as her eyes hardened.

 

“You shouldn’t be here.”

 

Before he could ask why, a loud crash followed by a scream echoed from the closed door of Caroline’s bedroom, drawing his attention deeper down the hallway.

 

Her tiny fists and kicks that she swung in attempts to stop him were no match for him as he began the trek down the hall. He came to a pause outside her bedroom door, with Caroline’s tiny hands tugging and pulling at his shirt. A sinister male laugh followed by yet another feminine scream and something hard hitting the wall flooded from behind the door.

 

Frantically Klaus tried to open the door, failing to cause it to budge no matter how hard he tried. “I need to get in. She needs my help! Let me in the room Caroline!”

 

“No!” The force of young Caroline’s yell sent him flying away from the door, crashing against the opposite wall where he quickly jumped back to his feet. Her eye blazed with anger and panicked tears as she screamed, “This memory is not for you! You shouldn’t be here! Get out! Get out! GET OUT!”

 

Klaus woke with a panicked gasp, sitting up on the bed as he stared down in horror at Caroline and the way the curse made it seem as if she were just peacefully sleeping. Now he knew the truth. This curse was putting her through its own little house of horrors show.

 

Try as he might, he could not regain entrance to her mind after that. It was as if, even under the curse as she was, she placed a mental barrier between them. Which only served to worry him further. Caroline was trapped alone, unable to escape her most painfilled memories. The last one that he bared witness to was enough to set his blood on fire and turn his lungs to ice. He had witness enough depraved acts throughout his years, had a heavy hand in many of them. But one that he had never done was the one that her screams of terror had eluded to. Someone had forced themselves on her in the most brutal way, and when he discovered just who it had been, he would destroy the wretch.

 

But in the meantime, he flashed off to the study where Freya had been working tirelessly. Screaming and shouting with his demands for answers.

 

“I don’t know Klaus.” Freya rubbed her forehead in exhaustion.

 

“What do you mean you don’t know?! What use is all your power and knowledge if you cannot help me break one simple curse!”

 

“It’s not as simple as you think or else I would have the answers by now.”  


“Well then, by all means please, finish your tea. Meanwhile Caroline lays trapped within her own mind. Haunted by images and memories no one should, let alone one such as her should ever be forced to endure!” Glass shattered to the ground as he viciously swiped the contents of a nearby table to the floor, “I can’t even gain access to her mind any longer! I can’t ease her discomfort even a small whit.”

 

“I know you feel helpless, we all do, but other than my crazy sleep deprived idea, I’m not sure what else I can do for her right now.”

 

“What idea?” Klaus spun on his heels.

 

“It’s out there and dangerous, and it might not even work.”

 

“Tell me.” He flashed to her, his eyes glazed with a manic light.

 

“I might not know all the inner workings of this curse just yet, but I do know enough to place someone else under it.” She swallowed nervously, “Maybe if I placed it on someone, I could link the two curses together and thereby giving Caroline and the other person access to each other while under its effects. That just might give us the loophole we need to figure out how to break this thing.”

 

“Excellent. Gather your supplies and meet me in my room.” Klaus announced before leaving the room.

 

Freya ran to the door, shouting after him, “I said a lot of maybes and might’s Klaus! You can’t seriously think that we should put this curse on you with only half the information we need. We don’t even know for sure if this will work.”

 

Klaus flashed back to her, gripping her shoulders tightly, “That’s exactly what we are going to do. Now gather what you need, I’d have this done before our other siblings come back home and try and stop me. Rest assured sister, no one will like the consequences if they stand in my way.”

 

Freya watched him as he stalked off towards his bedroom where Caroline still laid, a small smile growing over her lips as he was safely out of view. She could hardly contain her whistle as she gathered what she needed. She had figured out the curse and all it entailed hours ago, it wasn’t until just now that she finally figured out how to get Klaus to willingly agree to be placed under the curse and linked with Caroline with nothing to go on but a small ounce of hope.

 

* * *

 

“Freya, what did you do? Why will Niklaus not awaken?”

 

She drew in a deep breath as Elijah and Rebekah come into the study, “I did what I had to do.” Freya replied with her chin held high.

 

“Oh my God. You put Nik under the curse as well, didn’t you? I glanced over your scribbles about the curse, but I never thought…” Rebekah fearful eyes stared at her sister.

 

“Klaus had to be willing to go under with no reservations.” Freya defended.

 

“But now there is no way to try and connect with them. To help us find the loophole needed.” Elijah scolded.

 

“Klaus _was_ the loophole. He loves her, and she loves him.” Freya stressed.

 

“That’s preposterous, Niklaus hardly knows the girl.”

 

Rebekah glanced to him as if he were daft but as caught his bewildered eyes, she softened, “I forgot that you had disappeared during the Nik and Caroline Saga with all the wooing attempts, near deaths and last second rescues back in Mystic Falls. Though I do have to disagree with you as far as Caroline’s feelings are concerned, Freya. She may have leveled a few trees with our dear brother, but that girl fights her connection with him with her every breath.”

 

“Then why of all places she could go for help did she come here, to _him_?”

 

“I never said the twit was stupid. She very well knows the power behind the Mikaelson name.” Rebekah scoffed haughtily.

 

“Maybe, but you didn’t see them right before she fell under the effects of the curse. They hardly spoke more than a few words to each other, yet they seemed to be having some a long drawn out conversation just with their eyes.”

 

“Ah yes, I remember all too well the days of all the eye-sex and flirty dance.”

 

Elijah cleared his throat past the stun of all that he was hearing, that he had somehow missed, “What is to be done now? How do we help them?”

 

The trio looked into the room to the bed where the pair laid as if merely sleeping as Freya sighed, “There’s nothing we can do. It’s all up to them now.”

 

* * *

 

 

_“Wake up Sweetheart.”_

Caroline groaned groggily, opening her eyes only to squeeze them shut when she was met with a blinding white light. Her forehead crinkled as she took stock of her body that was being cradled across a warm lap with a scent that matched the soft cadence of his voice.

 

Slowly this time she opened her eyes, scanning the oddly bright white hallway filled with doors before looking up to see the relief in his gray eyes as he grinned down to her.

 

“As the design of the space we are in doesn’t match up with your high and flaunty tastes and the fact that things still feel a little unusual, I’m going to have to ask. What has you grinning like a you found a new human doppelganger when the curse obviously isn’t broken?”

 

“Can’t a man just be happy to see you?”

 

Caroline slowly sat up and moved to stand above him, “No. Not when you’re inside my head again while I’m still trapped in this creepy curse.”

 

Klaus, as he always did with her, followed her lead and stood, “So you remember my visit during your cursed sleep?”

 

Caroline pressed her lips with a minor disturb, “I remember you talking to child me outside of my house and then again in the hallway outside of my room before you disappeared.”

 

“Before you shoved me out of your mind to keep me from discovering things you wish to hide.” His eyes narrowed, and she could hear the questions in his voice.

 

“Some things are best left buried Klaus.” She shook her head at his lips pressed with upset, dislodging the images he wished to unravel with his blatant diversion, “I don’t recall you being the object of distraction in this relationship.”

 

His dimples cut his scruffy cheeks with the force of his wide, teasing grin, “A relationship? My, my, my. Who knew a simple curse would be all it took for you to finally name us as such.”

 

“Stop twisting my words.” Caroline shook a pointy finger at him, “This feels different than before. When you entered my head those other times I could tell you weren’t part of the curse but a drifter inside my thoughts. This feels different. Now it’s like you are your own separate entity from me and yet here we are,” Caroline waved her hand around them, “In some creepily sterile looking hospital hallway filled with doors. Mind explaining to me what the hell is going on?”

 

By the tap of her toes reverberating against the walls he knew her patience was wearing thin. Rubbing the back of his neck with a small amount of discomfort he began to explain, “Freya was having a few minor difficulties with the inner workings of the spell. She had a highly involved hypothesis that if we were linked, we could decipher a way out of this curse together.” Knowing she was always quick to piece things together, he squinted at her as her face evolved in an array of emotions while he awaited her reaction.

 

Caroline opened her mouth, snapping it closed, her eyes wincing at him as she held up a single digit before rubbing her forehead, “Are you telling me that you willingly put yourself under the same curse and linked yourself with me? Because that would be insane even for you. Please tell me that you seriously didn’t do this because you are the one person I need on the outside to figure this damn thing out.”

 

“We tried everything from the outside and it all failed.” He defended with a scowl, “It was time to tackle things from within.”

 

“Great!” Caroline tossed her hands into the air, “You decided to go all _insurgent_ and now who knows how long we could be trapped here together.”

“Is my company really that bad?” Klaus pouted.

“Don’t you dare! No puppy eyes are allowed from you. God Klaus! I came to you because I trusted you to fix this! Not get yourself trapped in the curse too.” She groaned in frustration, tossing her head back as if the pure white ceiling held the answers for the clearly insane hybrids actions, “Why would you even do this?”

Klaus invaded her personal space, grasping her chin forcing her to look at him as his eyes blazed and his hand moved to warm the side of her neck, “I do not take for granted a single ounce of the trust you have placed within me. Do you really believe I would willing place myself under a curse without having the confidence that we could figure this out together? That I would ever place you under more harm?”

His words from that fateful night on Elena’s darkened porched echoed in her mind. _It was all for you._ Her shoulders slumped as the fight and frustration that she shouldn’t be aiming at him deflated out of her. She knew him better than she liked to admit, even to herself. Klaus Mikaelson would never had gone to such lengths if he didn’t have a plan.

 

But right now, she had a slightly wounded and pouting hybrid in front of her to deal with, so they could get to that plan.

 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you but even you have to admit this all sounds straight out of the cuckoo’s nest.” His answering smile made her laugh under her breath, tilting her head with just enough sass, “Okay almighty one, what’s that game plan then?”

 

Klaus took a moment to revel in her patented sassiness, and the little spark of joy that she had not removed his hand from her neck, before he regrettably stepped back, surveying their surroundings.

 

Caroline frowned as the skin of her neck felt oddly cold without the warmth of his touch, but she opted to push such thoughts aside, she was good at that when it came to him, as she too took in their new surroundings.

 

The hallway felt deceptively long. She almost though that it went on forever until she noticed the single beaten and battered red door at the end. Both sides of the hall were lined with white doors with goldened handles and letters on their fronts.  

 

They pressed their lips tight with a grimace, eyes flicking to each other and back to the sets of doors as their minds rapidly deciphered what was expected of them both.

 

“I’m going to take a wild guess that the way out would be the big scary looking red door at the end of the hall.” Caroline broke the daunting silence.

 

“We’re of a like mind on that front, Love. But as the other doors carry our initials and we would have to pass them to get there, I would assume that we will not find the results of the big scary red door favorable until the others have been breached.”

 

“And with this being a curse by some wack-a-do, I don’t think we’ll find any rainbows and bunnies behind the white doors either.” Caroline thought of all the things her fake house liked to show her, finding herself increasingly upset that Klaus would possibly bare witness to things she’d rather he didn’t see. It was with a plastered-on smile and fluttering eyes, she waved towards the first door with a golden N, “Since you’ve already taken a peek into my head, I think it’s your turn to go.”

 

Klaus grunted in response, he knew he couldn’t argue with her logic nor could he ask her to kindly turn away when it was his idea to trap them here together in the first place. Gathering his strength, he blew out a breath as he felt Caroline step up beside him as he turned the handle and pushed the first door open.

 

A swirling dark mist greeted them, similar to the one that had surrounded her backyard. Slowly the mist faded to give way to a scene that was all too familiar to him.

 

Caroline gasped, leaning closer to get a better look, “Oh my God. Is that you?” Glancing up to Klaus’s face finding a quiet look of dread on his features that didn’t quite match up with the tender scene playing out before them.

 

“Yes.” His steely eyes stayed locked on the images.

 

She looked back through the door as Klaus, looking to be around the tender age of six, had his tongue caught adorably between his lips as he carved a small knife around a tiny chunk of wood creating a miniature figure of an animal under the watchful praise of his Mother.

 

_“You are doing wonderfully Niklaus. Your baby sister will be very pleased.”_

Young Klaus’s cheeks puffed with pride, causing warmth to grow within Caroline’s chest. The door at the front of the hut crashed open revealing a sneering Mikael that turned the warmth to ice.

 

_“Look Father! Look at the tiny beast I am carving for Rebekah.”_

_“He truly is a marvel at his carvings.”_ Esther beamed with pride with a cautious eye on her husband.

 

Mikael grunted gruffly, resting his sword against the wall, _“Perhaps if you stopped with the incessant coddling of the boy, he would be able to stomach carving the hides off the kills I bring home. Instead, he is inside carving useless toys while Elijah and Finn help to prepare our meal.”_

_“He is just a child Mikael. Elijah and Finn were both two full seasons older than he before they began helping with such gory work.”_

_“And yet he can waste away the time carving useless chunks of firewood as his brothers do all the manly chores. By damn! The boy will never become a man if he is left to play the hours away!”_ Mikael stomped over to the table, snatching the half-finished animal out of his son’s hand, tossing it to the fire before grabbing him by the back of his neck and forcing the boy towards to door, _“If you can meticulously carve hunks of wood, then you can by damned carve strips of fur off meat.”_ With a forceful shove, he pushed Klaus out of the door. _“And do not let me hear of you spilling the contents of your stomach into the bushes again like some weakling. If you cannot keep the food I bring to this table within your body, there shall be no dinner for you tonight boy.”_

The mist swirled back in, giving the illusion that it was over before clearing and replaying the scene once again. With a face covered in rage, Klaus attempted to pull the door closed, not wishing to see the glimpse of his past again but even with his hybrid strength he was not able to pull it closed.

 

Snarling he let go of the handle, “Fine!”

 

“What? Why can’t you close the door?”

 

No stranger to tricks of the witchy variety, he snapped, “It would appear that a condition of the curse is to face whatever it is that the doors displays to us. Blasted witches and their damned tricks!”

 

Caroline turned her back on the repeating scene, focusing her attention instead on Klaus. Placing her hand to his tense forearm with a soft touch and an even soft voice, “What do you need to face here, Klaus?”

 

Klaus focused on her expressive blue eyes, using them as an anchor as he recounted his old buried memories, “This was the first moment that I realized that I might never live up to my Father’s expectations. The first time that my doubts began to creep in to lay its very real seeds that I might never be capable of gaining his praise.”

 

“But you were so young.” Caroline spoke with a frown.

 

Klaus smiled at her innocence, “Younger than the girl who only wished for her parents to praise her pretty picture or to stay with her throughout the night to keep the monsters at bay?”

 

“No, I guess not. So, what happened after that? Did you skin the animals and cut the meat?”

 

“Not without some difficulty but yes.”

 

“Huh. It looks like we both learned how to push ourselves into doing things we didn’t like to do just to try and make our parents proud of us.”

 

“So it would seem.” Klaus relaxed under her understanding gaze, his eyes flicking over her shoulder with a soft grin, “It worked.”

 

Caroline turned, surprised to see the door had completely vanished leaving behind nothing but a smooth white wall. Nervously she faced her side of the hall, whispering, “I guess that means it’s my turn then.” Inhaling deeply, she squared her shoulders and bravely marched to the first door with the golden scripted C and hastily flung it open.

 

The dark mist faded away to reveal a scene from her life that already caused her lower lip to tremble.

 

Klaus watched as the familiar image of a young Caroline, who looked to be the same age he had saw her as before, wrench her arm out of her Mother’s grasp and stumble down the steps of her front porch.

 

 _“Daddy! Daddy no! Please!”_ Tears streamed down her reddened cheeks as she chased after her Father and grasped onto the strap of his suitcase.

 

Her Father sighed, looking to her Mother who stood with her arms cross at the front doorway for support with their daughter. Finding none there he knelt down beside her, _“Caroline, I have to go now. We talked about this. We agreed this was all for the best.”_

_“No. No. No! You and Mommy talked, not me! Please don’t leave me Daddy.”_ She choked on the force of her tears as he wrangled the suitcase from her and placed it in the backseat of his car with his other belongings.

 

_“I need to go now Caroline. I’ll call you when I get there.”_

She flung her tiny body against him, wrapping herself around his leg squeezing tightly, _“Take me with you then. I’ll go pack a bag and we can leave together.”_

_“You know I can’t do that. We talked about this, you have school and all your friends.”_

_“Then why can’t Steven move here with you so you can stay with me?”_

_“Because his daughter has her schooling and friends too. Now come along, how about I’ll stay for a little longer and we can work on your puzzle before I leave.”_

_“No!”_ Caroline stubbornly let go of her Father, clenching her tiny fists at her side as her tears melted into anger, _“Go ahead and leave then! Go ahead and play puzzle with Steven’s daughter who you want more than me! See if I care!”_

 

With a shift kick to his shin, she raced towards the house where her Mother knelt down to take her within her arms. Caroline skidded to a stop, turning her anger to her, _“I don’t need you either! This is all your fault! Daddy wouldn’t be leaving me if you could just be nicer to him! I hate you both and…and…I hope you eat bugs in your sleep!”_

As the mist began trickling back in, Klaus turned his back to the door and was met with the heartbreaking sight of Caroline’s tearful eyes as she held her arms wrapped around her middle.

 

Slowly he approached her, gently taking her within the safety of his arms as she cried. Laying the side of her face against his strong chest, she gathered herself and began to explain.

 

“I locked myself in my room for three days after that. I wouldn’t come to the phone when he called or even answer my Mom when she came to my door. I snuck out to get food but hurried back in before she could catch me. I couldn’t face either one of them because I hated myself for the things I said to them. But the truth is, I hated myself even more because I felt like it was my fault.”

 

Her glistening eyes held him captive, his hand cupped the side of her face as his thumb brushed the tears from under her eye, “The breakdown of your parent’s marriage was not your fault Caroline, no matter how much it might have felt that way at the time.”

 

“But it was. I heard my Mom on the phone with my Dad a few days after that happened. When I finally decided to come out and apologize.” She carelessly tossed her hand towards the door. “She told him that they needed to figure out how to help me get through their divorce. That they needed to work together since I was the only reason they had stayed together as long as they did. So, don’t you see Klaus? If I had never been born, they would have had the chance at a normal happy life.”

 

“You’re wrong Caroline.” He uttered softly, “Even if they had a terrible way of showing it, your parents loved you. They loved you enough to try and make their marriage work just to give you a happy life. And when they deemed it to be hurting you more than helping, they did what was best for all of you. Besides, didn’t things between you and your parents improve over the years?”

 

“Yeah I guess. It wasn’t easy, but I’d like to think we were all in a good place before they died.”

 

“Most things, especially the things that matter most to us rarely are easy. But you know that they died loving you in the end and that is all that should matter. Everything else that happened is merely another stepping stone to craft you into the woman you are today.”

 

Caroline frowned, “I guess I never thought of it like that.” She lifted an eyebrow as the door disappeared, “Looks like it’s time to see what else crafted you into being who you are.”

 

Klaus scowled at the next door but didn’t waste any time as he marched to the next door, flinging it open.

 

He grimaced at his human self standing under the nearly full moon with Tatia, by the look on his human face and the pouting lips on hers, he knew very well what was about to happen.  

_“Do not do this to me Niklaus. How can I choose between you? You, my sweet and tender man, who walks me through meadows simply holding my hand. Who whispers words of love and of a future that fills me with hope yet sadness. You touch my heart in ways that I cannot explain as you tell me stories and hold me close as the stars shining above us. And yet, while the attraction is there, the burning passion is not. Not like it is between with Elijah. Elijah who is brutal in the most wonderous ways with his love for me. You seek to comfort and hold me, to treat me as some fragile flower, while he seeks to consume me, to challenge me to yearn for the burning. You cannot ask this of me Niklaus, for my answer will remain the same. I want you both. I need you both. For if I could meld you into one man, much like the smithy with his metals to swords, I could then form the perfect man of my choosing, one who burns me from the inside out yet keeps me safe from his fiery love.” Tatia choked on her tears, “I love you both the same yet for different purposes. I am sorry. I must go…I cannot…”_

 

With that she turned to stumble away, leaving Klaus to his misery.

Caroline scoffed, “What a load of shit.”

 

“Pardon?” Klaus asked surprised.

 

“Outside of the fact that that was entirely too creepy, she may have been a different person, but I _know_ Elena’s face and that was _so not_ her I’m-so-devastated-I-can’t-help-but-cry face.”

 

Klaus pressed his lips, squinting his eyes towards Tatia as glanced over her shoulder to his human self before she ran off. Having this memory replay before him now he could clearly see what Caroline had picked up on, what his frail human mind with it’s heart breaking into tatters had missed. That moment had been the beginning of his heart changing and hardening, the first step to making him who he had become; a monster who did not care and did not love.

 

As if the door into his past heard and felt the trail his thoughts were taking the images began to shift. Only this time it was not the mist returning, it was not a replay of the scene again, but it changed into something else entirely.

 

“What’s happening?” Caroline leaned in closer to try and understand how the star-studded night sky and the mossy woods had change into a bedroom with a large four post bed and a slowly dying fire in the stone hearth.

 

“It looks as though the curse is changing its tactics and upping the ante.”

 

Caroline didn’t give his steely tone any mind as the male figure upon the bed shifted in his sleep. The woman beside him dressed in a gauzy robe sat up slowly, her hand reaching below the bed in search of something. Caroline gasped behind her hands as the woman flicked her long red hair over her shoulder as she now held a white oak stake tightly within her grasp.

 

As quick as her human speed would allow her, the woman straddled Klaus’ chest, her arm raised and swinging on a downward thrust.

 

His eyes snapped open, his hand flashing to stop her just as the stake pierced his skin.

 

_“Aurora, what are you doing?”_

_“What I was sent here to do.” A half-crazy grin split her lips, “Mikael sends his regards.”_

_“You’ve been compelled.” His mouth fell open in astonishment._

_“No darling I have not.”_

_“Then why? You said…” He gulped past his raw emotions, “You said you loved me. I was to turn you and we were to be happy. You said you wanted to leave with me.”_

 

_“And you told me you took no pleasure in your killings. That you would never hurt me.” She sneered, “By pray recall Niklaus, the coach and carriage you and your siblings overtook and slaughtered those inside before coming here. The older man and woman were my parents escorting my Aunt and Uncle and their children back home after a visit to our country estates. You stole my family from me, dishonored their memories by stealing their belongings and residing in their home.”_

_“I did not know.” Klaus shook his head vigorously, “I am sorry Aurora. Truly I am. Let me spend the rest of my days attempting to atone for what I have taken.”_

_“You had best be quick about it Niklaus, for this day is your last.” She knocked his hand away plunging the stake towards his heart._

_Blinking past his pain and tears of sorrow, he quickly knocked the stake to the floor, flipping them over to pin her to the bed._

_“Will you kill me now my love? Will you kill me like you did my family?” Pain shivered across his face making her laugh as he flashed off her. “You cannot, can you? Even knowing that all I said was a lie, that I do not love you are I have spoken, you still cannot take my life.” She laughed harder, “Mikael was right, you are nothing but a weak pathetic excuse of a man.”_

_Rage and agony rippled across his face, before the first tear fell he flashed, snatching up the white oak before fleeing the room. He collapsed against the outer wall of the castle, gasping for breath as he tried to choke down his cries of anguish._

_A familiar hand settled against his shoulder, “Niklaus? What is it? What has happened?”_

_Grinding his teeth, stuffing his emotions down, he kept his back to his brother, “Aurora was nothing more than a tool for Father. Find Kol and Finn, I shall retrieve Rebekah, so we may flee this place that has become nothing but a bore.”_

_“Niklaus…”_

_“Spare me your sentiments Elijah. I know quite well what you thought of her and I do not wish to rehash it all.” He spun with a dark grin on his face and his arms spread wide, “You were right brother, as was our Father. Who could ever love one such as I?” He chuckled ominously, “Moreover, why should I love another when all it does is bring pain and deceit.”_

_“Niklaus, I know this is difficult and a fresh wound, but you cannot allow it to fester. You cannot allow this to close you off from love. The right woman will come…”_

_“Don’t! Mikael is hot on our trail and you wish to wax poetic about the trivial notion of love.” He scoffed, “Love is nothing more than a weakness. A tool used for others to gain their upper hand upon us and I for one will never allow another to make me as weak again.”_

“Well…That was…intense.” Caroline gulped, dreading what would crop up at her next door if _that_ was what his had shown them. Her eyes glanced to Klaus, searching his face for what he must be thinking and feeling after all that. It was odd to say the least, to see him so fresh and full of hope and love, even in the midst of all that pain. To see more than the mere glimpses of the man he tried so hard to hide yet sometimes let slip through the cracks of his carefully constructed walls.

 

“Yes, I was new to life both in my human years and my early days of immortality. Still holding out for the hopeless acceptance and love of another with a fool’s heart.” His eyes flicked to her with all their hidden depths and tiny spark of the man she had saw in his memories shined through, “I’ve learned that love is a complicated and fickle emotion. That people are less reliable than we can hope for.”

 

“I’m no stranger to pain and heartbreak Klaus. Just as I know the feelings of rejection and betrayal, I also know that no one is a fool for thinking and feeling with their hearts. No matter what the outcome might be. It’s what makes us who we are. It’s what makes us more than monsters.”

 

It confused them both when his door faded away to a white wall, it felt almost anti-climactic after all they had just witnessed. And yet it had Caroline dreading to the tips of her toes over her own door as she slowly turned the handle.

 

She inhaled a deep shaky breath. She knew this door would be different, could feel it within her bones, but nothing prepared her for this. The dark mist swirling and churning while disembodied voices of her friends, her parents, of herself, echoed and blended together, setting her heart racing.

 

_“How come the guys that I want, never want me? I’m inappropriate, I always say the wrong thing. I try so hard and I’m never the one. Am I shallow? I don’t mean to be. I want to be deep.”_

_“Do you ever feel like there’s not a person in the world that loves you?”_

_“You’re the only one stupid here, and shallow and useless.” Damon voice echoed harshly before the sounds of her and Elena took shape._

_“Matt is always going to be in love with you and I’m always going to be the backup.”_

_“You’re not the back up.” Elena tried to sooth her friend._

_“Yes, I am. I’m Matt’s Elena backup, I’m you’re Bonnie backup.”_

_“Now it’s about me and Bonnie?” Elena scoffed._

_“You don’t get it. Why would you? You’re everyone’s first choice.”_

_Elena faded as the sound of Caroline and Matt took her place._

_“But it’s all going to be okay because I’m going to tell you everything and you’re gonna understand why I had to keep it from you and we’re gonna be fine.”_

_“I don’t want to look at you and see what I’m seeing right now.” Matt gritted out._

_“Maybe after a while…”_

_“Just make me forget Caroline!” Matt shouted._

_“Are you really going to just pretend that I don’t exist?” She asked with trepidation._

_“Yes.” Liz replied firmly._

_“How can you hate who I am so much!”_

_“Daddy you can’t change who I am. I don’t hurt anyone I swear! I can’t be fixed.”_

_“I’ll be okay, Daddy.”_

_“You’re a vampire sweetheart. I don’t think you’ll ever be okay again.”_

_“Then stay! Just be the love of my life. Love me more than you hate him.”_

_“I’m sorry Care. I can’t do that.” Tyler’s voice was filled with a sad determination._

The door across the hall suddenly burst open, shocking them both as the voices that were filled with her hurtful memories began weaving together with his.

 

_“The big bad wolf. You haven’t changed, still hiding behind your play things like a coward. Nobody cares about you anymore boy.” Mikael mocked._

 

_“No one will sit around a table telling stories about the man who couldn’t love.”_

_“We don’t abandon you Nik, you drive us away!” Rebekah’s hurt voice accused._

_Klaus’ tearful voice shouted back, “What have I done lately other than cooperate? I bow down to you brother, to make up for daggering you for the greater good of our plan to reclaim our home. Look the other way sister, while you repeat the same cycle with Marcel, falling again for the same man you shouldn’t be with. While he controls the empire that we built, that he took. Now I make no excuses for past sins. But in the one moment when you two could have chosen to stand by me, to believe in me, to believe that my intentions were pure, you chose to stand against me.”_

_“My whole life I sought the approval I was denied by the man I thought was my Father. You turned me into the weakling he hated. Look at me! You rant, and you rave about the monster I have become, but you Mother, are the author of everything I am.”_

_“Her you fight for. Lovely Freya, the daughter you barely know. Yet there was a time when you knew me. As your son. A time before all the disappointments, the revelations of betrayal. There were moments when all you had to do was be my Father and even then, you despised me, didn’t you? I want to know why.”_

_“I don’t know. I just did.”_

The parallels swirling around them were telling, far more telling than any words spoken between them could ever be as they gazed into each other’s tear-filled eyes. The hope, the despair, the pain. All their own but shared in such a profound way. Stripped and laid bare. Connecting to each other in a way they never imagined possible.

 

Abruptly the voices rose, melding together until the words could no longer be understood as they formed a loud roar. The white doors disappeared as a wind stronger than any force nature could create bellowed around them, aiding in their flaying hands and arms as the grasped for each other. Hoping to hold to each other through the eye of this terrifying magical storm.

Klaus wrapped an arm around her back, his other pressed the back of her head to his chest, holding her tightly within the shield his arms could provide as the air was sucked from their lungs and their bodies felt as through they were lifted from the very ground they stood.

 

As suddenly as it started it stopped. The once thinning air came back in a rush as the raging winds dissipated, leaving them both standing in a void of white with nowhere to turn but to the red door.

 

Their eyes cautiously looked to the door in question as it began shaking and pounding, terrifying unnatural howls came from the other side as if it were alive.

 

“What do you think it is?” Caroline’s trembling voice rumbled against his chest.

 

The theme of the party had changed once again, and Klaus began fitting the pieces of the puzzle together. The doors had been showing them things that they wished to hide about themselves. Unpleasant things that made them who they are today. It stood to reason that the last door, the single red door, was meant for them both.

 

“Everything will be fine Caroline.” Klaus’ deep voice attempted to sooth her as he stepped away from her towards the imposing door.

 

“Wait!” Caroline dashed forward, grasping his arm to stop him, “You can’t just open it. We should plan what we’re going to do first. We don’t even know what’s behind there!”

 

“I’m fairly certain this will be our toughest obstacle yet, but we will see this through together Caroline. We will stand together through whatever this door tosses our way. But we won’t know what we will face until we open it.”

 

“Right. Okay.” She placed her hand on top of his, “We do this together.”

 

With a soft grin at each other, they both tried to open the door only the handle wouldn’t budge. No matter how hard they tried, they were met with more resistance as the pounding on the other side grew heavier.

 

Caroline tore her hand away from the handle, growling in frustration, “I don’t understand! Why won’t the damn thing open? How can we face what’s on the other side if we can’t get to it?”

 

“Each door we’ve encountered, we’ve had to admit something about ourselves before it faded away.” Klaus contemplated, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “It stands to reason that whatever it is that we have to admit at this one must be something huge. Something we never wished to say in the outside world. Something we’ve buried so deep that the thought of speaking it aloud frightens us to our cores that we hide from it, hence why it must be said _before_ the door will open. And since there is only one, suffice to say we can be sure that it must be something to do with each other.” He grasped her shoulders as she began backing away from him holding her hands up in denial, shaking her gently to force her to meet his stare, “You need to do this Caroline. If we are to break this curse _we_ must do this. Tell me what you hide from me that has you running.”

 

“I never wanted you to leave okay!”

 

The door rattled along with the force of her yelling. Thrusting her arms up between his, she knocked them off her, pacing the small space as she yelled.

 

“I was devastated that you left without saying goodbye to me. It was like everything you had done; all your charm and gifts and attention, were nothing but the game I always thought it was. No, wait, you want _honesty?_ How’s this for honesty.” She sneered to cover her hurt, “I didn’t just _think_ it was, I was _afraid_ that it was. And it hurt. It hurt _so_ much. But it’s not like I could tell anyone right?” She scoffed, “Not when everyone was singing hymns about you being gone. So I had to be good little follower Caroline and fake smile that you had left. Pretend that I wasn’t upset that it was all a lie!”

 

The door pounded and rattled loudly, and she eyes it hatefully.

 

“Still now enough? Okay how’s this. I sent you my graduation invitation as a desperate cry to see if you’d even show up. It was as much of a test for you as it was for me. If you showed, maybe just maybe you were being honest with me. If you didn’t,” she laughed scathingly, “well then, I was just fooled by a guy yet again. Just another backup to keep someone busy until something else better came along. But could you just show up?” She narrowed her eyes accusingly at him, flailing her arms about, “No! Of course not! You had to be all confusing with your freeing Tyler and your however long it takes crap! I was right back to square one with you! Does he, or doesn’t he? It was so beyond frustrating!”

 

Klaus tried to interrupt, wanting to defend and explain his actions.

 

“No! I’m not finished! Because you went and did it all _yet again_! Showing up, leaving your five-hundred years of revenge fantasy just to walk around the damn woods with me with your, _I want your confession_ bullshit and then promising to leave. I never meant for it to go as far as it did, but it just felt _so_ good to kiss you. So…so… _right.”_ Tears built in her eyes as the fight drained out of her, the hurt and anguish taking over, nearly slaying him where he stood. Her voice cracking, “and then when it was all done, as we got dressed I honestly believed that you’d be the one person who would stay. That you’d make some cheesy comment, with that damn smirk on your face, about how Whitmore, where you knew damn well I would be, was not in Mystic Falls so therefore you wouldn’t be breaking your promise. But you didn’t. You just brushed a kiss to my head, said goodbye and left. And it _killed_ me. Because once again, silly little Caroline was not enough. I don’t even know why I ever thought I would be for you.”

 

The door suddenly fell silent as she spun around, placing her back towards him and silently wept into her hands.

 

Klaus gulped, knowing that moment of silence, before the howling started back up again, meant that she truly had admitted her deepest secret and fears when it came to him and her feelings towards him. Her half of this blasted curse was well on its way to being broken, and now, the only way out would be for him to do the same.

 

“You were never meant to happen Caroline.” He started off softly, “You were never meant to become more than a beautiful distraction, a thrilling challenge in a lengthy list that are easily forgotten.” When her shoulders began to shake under the force of her tears he knew he was mucking it all up. Placing a hand to her shoulder and forcing her to face him, he pleaded with her.

 

“You misunderstand me. All the things you were _supposed_ to be are not what you are. With every smile, with every word, no matter how scathing or feigned, you tied me up in more knots than I could possibly escape. And then the most miraculous thing happened. I found I didn’t want to escape. I looked forward to each and every moment, real or predetermined, because for me it meant I was able to spend just a little more time bathed in your light.” His soft smile was dashed beneath a snarl as his eyes filled with traitorous tears as her words came back to haunt him. He latched onto her arms, shaking her, “You think that it did not kill me to walk away from you? You think I left without a backwards glance or a plan formulating within my head? I had every intention of coming back! Of doing just as you predicted and slyly running into you at that coffee shop you liked to frequent around the corner from your dorm.” Her eyes widened at his admission, but he still pressed on, “I already had a plan set to stage a few coincidental meetings until things in New Orleans took a dangerous turn and all I could think of was keeping you safe, even if it meant staying away from the one person I longed to just be near.” He gently ran the backs of his fingers down her cheek, whispering past the emotions clogging his throat, “My biggest torment when it comes to you Caroline is that I will forever be ready for you while you will never be ready for me. That even if I am granted a chance with you that _I_ will be the one to discover that the promise of all your sweet whispered words will not be enough to keep me from damaging that chance as I have every other person in my life. That _I_ am the one who is not enough for you.”

 

Klaus laughed harshly, taking a few hated steps away from her, “Look at me! The man who couldn’t love. The man who isn’t loved. The man who drives his family away. The hybrid who lived by and claimed that love was a weakness. That we as vampires do not care and do not feel.” He closed in on her, his hands gently cupping her face as he tenderly proclaimed, “But if love is a weakness, then let me be weak. Let me drown in the weakness I carry only for you.” He gulped, brushing the backs of his hand over her wet cheek, “I love you Caroline.”

 

Caroline inhaled sharply, her eyes searching his finding nothing but the truth of his words. Seeing the fear that she would push him away. The fear that teetered towards happiness when she grasped his face, pulling him down ready to crash their lips together.

 

Their lips were just a breath away from touching when the air was sucked out of the room. The door crashing open, sending splinters and shards through the air, the wind blowing them apart.

 

Until they knew nothing but darkness.

 

* * *

 

 

They both woke with a gasp, sucking in their much-needed air before slowly turning their heads to face each other on the bed inside Klaus’ bedroom. Their eyes stayed locked together as Klaus shifted to his side, propping his body up on one arm as the other trembled slightly on its way to cup her face. His fingers brushed over her skin and through her hair, bringing a shaky inhale from her lips as she leaned into his touch.

 

Ever so slowly, as if afraid he would be rejected now that they had broken the curse and were back in the real world, Klaus leaned in closer until their breath mingled as one.

 

Neither paid much attention as the door to the bedroom silently closed, nor did they hear Freya stop his siblings from entering the room with a pleased smile on her face as they were too caught up in the moment happening between them.

 

Caroline raised her hand, brushing her fingers across his stubbled cheek then slide around the back of his neck. The moment her fingers combed through the ends of his hair, his lips softly brushed against hers.

 

Moaning at the touch of his lips, she curved her body along his making Klaus groan as her tongue flicked out, searching and begging for entrance that he gladly surrendered. Her leg bent, sliding along his hip as he eased himself half on top of her.

 

Breathing heavily, Caroline pulled away from their kiss, her head tilting back at the delicious friction his thigh brought to her jean covered center. Unable to have his lips and tongue away from her taste for long, Klaus took the open opportunity to scatter kisses filled with nips and licks along the alabaster column of her throat.

 

A small hint of reason mixed with a dash of guilt flooded Caroline’s mind. Gripping the back of his head she pulled his hair gently, knowing it would be enough to gain his attention. She mourned the loss of his lips against her skin and judging by the sensual knowing smirk on his face, she did not hide it well.

 

“Wait!” She panted, stalling him so she could try and gather her thoughts enough to say what she needed to tell him without making a mess of everything, “I can’t say it back.” She winced, upset that she just blurted it out without any form of finesse. “I mean, that’s not to say I didn’t like what you said, because who doesn’t like to hear that someone…well you know. It’s just that, well, I’m…ugh.” Caroline groaned pressing her head back against the pillow, shielding her eyes from seeing the disappointment she was sure would be on his face with her arm, mumbling, “And now I’ve completely ruined everything. We were on our way to having some hot hybrid-vampire sex which I totally and complete messed up with my insane need to ramble. Which I’m still doing…so feel free to leave the room and I’ll just make a hasty escape out the window when you’re gone.”

 

Caroline held her breath, counting to ten in her head and almost dared to peek at him when she didn’t feel his body leave hers. No instead, she was tortured a little more when he shifted his body into the cradle of her thighs, his very pronounced and still extremely aroused bulge rubbed her in the most sinful way causing her to bite her lower lip hard to keep from embarrassing herself further by moaning.

 

“Caroline.” Klaus sang her name, shaking his head with amusement at her flushed cheeks and adorable personality. He leaned down, settling his body on top of hers with his arms framing her head. “Look at me Love.”

 

As if entranced by his soft tones, her arm fell from her face with a will of its own. Her eyes cautiously peeking up at him, expecting his face to be poised and ready to mock her only to find in a stunned surprise a soft look of understanding.

 

“I have come to an understanding and acceptance where my feelings for you are involved. I’ve gone through the stages of fighting against them, denying them and trying to snuff them out only to come to the profound realization that it does not matter what I do, nor does it matter the distance between us. They are as real and as permanent as my status of being the most powerful creature on the planet.”

 

She rolled her eyes at him and his cocky ego bringing a smile to his kiss swollen lips.

 

“Just as I know how deeply ingrained my love for you is within me, I know that you are not ready to make such a wonderous declaration to me. Not yet anyways.” He teased with a confident smirk, “But believe me when I say Sweetheart, that one day you will.”

 

She curved an eyebrow at him, “You sound so sure. As if it’s inevitable.”

 

“Undeniably.”

 

“Really, and why is that?”

 

“Because as the most powerful creature on the planet,” he teased, letting the full weight of all she had admitted to him bath over him, giving him the confidence to not only speak aloud but to mean every word he said, “I not only have an eternity of time on my hands but also a plethora of weapons hidden within my arsenal to ensure that you fall desperately in love with me.”

 

“Oh? Care to share any of those mysterious weapons?”

 

His smile took a deviously carnal turn, “The possibilities are endless, though I can think of one I could share right now.” Klaus rolled his hips, hitting her in just the right way to pull a keening cry from her petal soft lips. His tongue paved a path up her neck, pausing to whispering hotly in her ear, “I believe you said something along the lines of hot hybrid-vampire sex.” Her nails dug into his back, tearing tiny holes in his shirt. “And I am not one to disappoint.”

 

Caroline’s eyes glittered with lust, a smirk curving her lips as he pulled back, placing them nose to nose, “Then what are you waiting for? _Have at it_ _Sweetheart_.”

 

Her easy flirt, the lust blatantly displayed on her face and the way her body arched into his set him a blaze.

 

Their clothes were torn from their bodies with hands that moved with a burning passion. Neither pausing until both were stripped bare. Klaus sat back on his heels as he took in the mouthwatering sight of Caroline sprawled naked, her chest heaving upon his bed. His eyes took in every inch of the vision before him, filling in the blanks that his wild late-night fantasies had missed. The way her hair curled around her face, framing her in a golden halo. How the burgundy of his sheets gave way to the illusion that she was made of the most delicate of porcelain. The way the natural scent of her arousal, of _her_ , blended in the perfect mixture with his as if she belonged here. The way it felt to have her here and not just in his mind’s eye. It was better than his most vivid fantasy could provide.

 

“I’d like to toy with that old cliché, take a picture it will last you longer, but I’m almost afraid to.” She tilted her head sweetly smiling with a tease as she glided her foot along his leg, “Are there any sketchbooks of the scandalous variety that I should know about?”

 

“I was tempted a time or twenty, but I would never draw you in such a manor without your expressed permission.” His fingertips danced along the upper swell of her breasts, dipping down her cleavage before following an imaginary line from the valley, cresting over the luscious mount to toy with its rosy peak. “Permission that I hope to gain and coax from you someday in the future.”

 

Caroline widened her legs, smirking in delight as his eyes traveled down to her glistening core, his breath shuttering from his lungs, “Well then, what are you waiting for? Coax away.”

 

Swiping his lips intrigued with her apparent willingness to agree but shuffling the thoughts away for another time. He dove down, fusing their lips together in a kiss that was all tongue and teeth. His hands paving a path up her legs, one continuing its upward journey to cup her breast as the other veered inward towards the very heat of her.

 

His fingers were instantly met by the silky wetness of her excitement, feeling how deeply ready she was for him. But he wanted her to be mindless in her need. He wanted her panting and so lost in her lust for him that it was all she could think of or feel.

 

He smiled against her lips, swallowing her whimpers as his thumb circled her throbbing clit. The tips of his fingers teasing with shallow dips into her core as he tweaked and rubbed her harden nipple.

 

But Caroline’s hands were not sitting idle either. She scratched down his sides, sliding inward at his hips, grasping his swollen weeping member. She drove him mad as she alternated with her feather light touches to the underside of his shaft to her tighten fist clasping around him. In response he dove hid middle finger in deep, pressing his thumb in hard tight circles.

 

It turned into a game between them, teasing and taunting the other with light touches against powerful strokes. Endeavoring to get the other to cave and beg first, but as they had learned of each other before, they both enjoyed the game far too much to be the one to cave.

 

Sweat trickled down Klaus’ face, Caroline’s legs shook with the force of her need when they both snapped. Pulling their hands away at the same instant, her legs wrapping around him as their hips met in a familiar dance that had him buried to the hilt within her depths.

 

Klaus fell forward with a low groan, his hands braced beside her head, her nails digging into his back as he thrusted against her rolling hips. Their lips were just a breath apart, trembling with shaky gasps and harsh pants. Klaus, with a devious smirk, began rolling his hips against her clit with every downward thrust, bringing a long keening cry from her.

 

Not to be outdone Caroline snaked her hands to his shoulders, placing one foot to the bed for leverage as she flipped them over, crashing his back to the bed. Klaus marveled at the sight above him. The sunlight filtering in through the open window bathed her in a golden hue. Her long locks brushing his inner thighs, her breasts bouncing as she sat up and rode him to her heart’s content.

 

As wild and amazing as it all felt, it still wasn’t enough. Klaus braced his feet to the bed, grasping her hips, lifting and flipping her to her knees. Caroline had just enough time to steady herself by taking ahold of the iron headboard before he plunged back into her heated core.

 

Both groaned deeply at the feel of the other as Klaus leaned over her, placing his hands to the headboard beside her whitening knuckles, his hips roughly slapping against the flesh of her backside.

 

Feeling her body being to tremble and tighten around him, Klaus ran his hands down her arms, over her breasts, stopping with one at her hip and the other pressed at her heart, his hips never breaking their stride as he sat up, pulling her up with her back flush against his chest.

 

One hand held her close, feeling the erratic pounding of her heart as the other hands dipped down to her clit. Caroline flung her arm around the back of his neck, turning her head to smash their lips together as her other hand drifted down to where their bodies were joined, feathering over his hand still working her into tight knots to slide down further, her palm resting against his cock as it made shallow thrusts, her fingers gently placing pressure against his tightening sack.

 

She felt his legs begin to shake against the backs of her thighs seconds before it all came crashing down. Their lips tore away from each other, shouting their ecstasy as their bodies trembled and shook under its force.

 

As they crashed to the bed Klaus used what little strength he had left to turn them, pulling her body in close to his as Caroline rested her head to his sweaty chest.

 

As they rested comfortably in the silence and caught their breaths while coming down from their high, Klaus’ mind began to wonder what this meant for them. Would she leave once this was all finished? Get dressed and walk away from him? Deny all that she had said and felt to leave him without her spirit and light once again? Would he be able to let her go, if that was what she truly wanted, after having her again?

 

Caroline slide back to the curve of his shoulder, peeking at him with a soft smile that he returned. Though she could see all the disquiet and questions his mind held with his eyes. Brushing her fingers over his chest in light circles, “So I heard that New Orleans is a city full of food, music, art and culture,” She gazed into his eyes that shimmered with a breathless hope, “how would you feel about showing me around a little?”

 

She giggled at his stunned face, prompting him to smile so widely that his dimples seemed deeper than she had ever seen them.

 

He brushed her hair behind her ear with his smile still intact, “That would be my greatest pleasure Caroline.” He leaned in as she rose to met him, their lips connecting in a soft promise of what the future would hold for them.

 

 


End file.
